The outcasts
by SasukeUchihaPHTanteiTrunkslove
Summary: Shinichi Kudo...Lelouch Lamperouge...the tale of how they met as children and then were torn apart by circumstances beyond their control. Warning, spoilers for Osananajimi.


**A/N:Just a little oneshot on young Shinichi's views of Lelouch and Nunnally when they come to Japan as hostages or bargaining tools. Told from first person perspective. Spoilers for Osananajimi twists and Code Geass. If you don't like spoilers, don't read it.  
**

* * *

Hello there, I'm Kudo Shinichi and I'm only nine years old, but already I want to be a great detective. My otousan writes mystery novels and I want to be just like him when I grow up. My okaasan is an actress who wants to be famous overseas. But there's one slight complication; we're Japanese and apparently the other cultures don't look too kindly on Japanese.

I always hear my parents talking about a country called Britannia and whenever they do, it's always in a negative and dark tone. I don't quite understand it all, but whenever they talk about this Britannia, they get sad, so it must be a bad thing.

A while later, I learned that Britannia was a big, huge country and they always want to expand their culture farther, so they make other countries just like them-but what my father and mother didn't tell me then was that they enslaved the residents and killed any who tried to resist or keep their individuality. But I was just a naive young child then...too young to understand such things like war and racism and violence.

Little did I realize that the scope of my nine-year old life was about to be turned upside down forever, because two people were arriving...two young kids my age, who would change my life forever. They were also fated to become my best friends-Lelouch vi Britannia and his little sister, Nunnally.

I can hear them talking about them. Everyone seems excited for some reason. My relatives all speak of tensions among Japan and Britannia and say that some important noblewoman over there was murdered by terrorists and they say that the prince there has lost his mind and might be sent away by the Emperor.

I lie awake in bed that night, trying to picture what an Emperor would look like. Is he someone huge and mean, or does he look just like my mother and father do? I try to understand what the adults are talking about, but whenever I, the innocent young child, asks, they all shift their tones and pretend they didn't hear me.

I try to imagine what that prince must be going through. So he's crazy, now? Why? What made him that way?

**Lelouch's POV **

* * *

Mother's dead. She's gone. The one person who loved and took care of us most is dead, shot to death before my own eyes...and oh, dear god, _Nunnally._..Nunnally, my sister, will never be able to see me again or see anyone, for that matter. She's blind, my sweet little sister can't even walk anymore or run, either. How is she supposed to live like this?

Not only that, but even Father...no, that man, has turned his back on us and denied us our right to exist. He's considering throwing us away and using us as pawns. Well, I won't let him. I'll definitely find the truth behind Mother's death...that's why I...

"Lelouch?" A soft voice says from behind me. I turn in time to see a pink-haired girl with purple eyes looking at me with gentle eyes. Her eyes are rimmed red from crying. My half-sister, Euphie. I know she cried when she heard of Mother's death, as did her sister, Cornelia. My half-brother Clovis was upset, too, and so was Schneizel.

But Schneizel didn't show any emotion at all. I bet he orchestrated it. I bet he orchestrated the whole thing. He killed my mother and left us to rot. The whole court doesn't care about my sister and I. But Euphie...Euphie is different.

"Lelouch, please don't leave," She whines. But I know I have to go. I have to be a pawn in that man's plans...at least, for now, and then I'll take my revenge on him.

I can't believe it. We're both outcasts...forgotten by Britannia and everyone else. There's not a single person in the world who cares about us. That's right...I'm the only one who can protect Nunnally right now. She needs only me. She is all I have left...my only lifeline in this world.

I don't need anyone else anymore. I only need Nunnally to survive. Even this place we're going to-I won't let any of the adults fool me, pretending to be kind. They're just ravaging wolves that want to destroy all of us, and we can't fight back in any way, so I'll just go about my own business and protect Nunnally the only way I can.

This house in front of us is cold, empty, and lonely. It's nothing at all like the picturesque house I describe to Nunnally, but that's just an innocent fairy tale I am telling her to soothe her wounded, tortured soul. For a soul like hers cannot endure any more pain, or else she will break entirely. I will not let that happen to her. I'll take all the pain on myself, even if it means losing my mind. I will protect her, no matter what.

I hear a voice behind us.

"So, you're the prisoners that are staying over here in my shed, huh?" The voice sounds condescending and arrogant. Evidently, he thinks highly of himself, and of the world before him...expects that it will always provide for him in every way, that there will never be a time when he finds himself all alone, away from every living soul, lost and alone. I used to be just like that, but now my eyes have been opened to reality.

"What the hell do you want, you disgusting Japanese?" I growl. I suppose prejudice stems from my blood, it's not something I can help. I wish I knew how to detach myself from this disgusting prejudice, but it just runs in my blood.

* * *

The next thing I feel is the taste of the earth as I'm slammed into the ground, and my nose is now bleeding. Great, now my little sister has to hear her precious brother getting beaten to a bloody pulp.

"Please stop it! Hit me instead, please! I can't fight back!" My sweet sister, Nunnally, pleads. I can't see her because I am currently face-down in the dirt, but I imagine that my sister is shedding tears of pain.

"I can't hit you! That would make me a bully!" The boy gasps. I suppose this boy must be the welcoming committee sent by the loving folks of Japan. This boy is Suzaku...Kururugi, the son of the Prime Minister, Genbu Kururugi? He certainly has the attitude for one.

Nunnally apologizes profusely to me, even though it's not her fault that stupid boy attacked us. Every day, the Japanese people we buy from give us cold and dirty looks. They throw insults at us in a language we don't know or understand.

We are all alone. That is the heartwrenching reality that has enforced itself upon me through our isolation. The housekeepers who do the work for us do it silently, without speaking a word to us, like we are nothing, like we do not matter at all. Of course, we don't in their eyes. The Japanese are filthy, prejudiced people.

All of them are. There's not one of them that won't look down on us for being Britannian.

**Shinichi's POV **

* * *

"Shinichi-kun, have you heard about the Britannian prince and princess emigrating here?" My cousin says conspiratorily.

"They say they're really arrogant, selfish snobs who think only of themselves. They say they always expect the Japanese to bow down before them. Well, we Japanese won't have any of that. We'll be a proud people and we won't let them do that to us, will we?"

"Calm down, they're just children. No need to fill Shinichi-kun's mind with that political nonsense. He doesn't need to hear those things."

But I hear it anyway, regardless of how much the adults try to cover it up. We children see in ways others do not, and we are sharper than people imagine us being. There is nothing a child understands more than wrongdoing. We are told stories about good and evil and that evildoers must be punished.

I always believed that criminals were bad guys who had to be punished. I knew they deserved punishment, not forgiveness. They had done bad deeds, but they couldn't afford to be let out again, lest they kill more people and deprive more people of their happiness.

But in my eyes, I have never seen Britannia face-to-face, I have only heard about them, so there is nothing a child like me can say about the Britannians, for I have not met them yet.

"I saw those children the other day, Shinichi! They were so scary! The one boy just glared at me and scared me half to death. Then the other people beat up on him."

I look at her like she's nuts. "Barou, since when has violence ever been any good?"

That is one of my classmates, saying those awful things. I frown as I walk home. That day, I ask my parents what kinds of people the prince and princess are. Immediately, they tell me it will be all right and that I won't need to know how they act. I will never run into them-never.

Somehow, I'm not convinced. What if the adults are wrong and the prince and princess are actually just lonely people living in a forlorn world? Perhaps I should befriend them.

**Lelouch's POV **

* * *

"Hey...hey, look, over there, it's him! One of the Brit royalty...those arrogant pigs think they can shop here!"

"...Yeah, look at him. He looks like a wimp. He'd be pretty easy to beat up."

"Let's get him. Hey, Britannian pig!"

I look up in time to see a group of Japanese boys surrounding me. I don't know who they are, nor do I care to know. I hate them. I hate all people who seek to take my sister away from me. I don't want to know who they are.

I barely even feel their punches. I figure...it's okay to end my life like this. It's okay for me to die here, being beaten to a pulp by these thugs. At least, then my sister will rest easy knowing I died. She'll be the only one who cares about me.

But then I heard a new voice enter into the picture, a high-pitched one.

"_Omaetachi, nani o shiteiru no?"_

Great, just what I need, another Japanese idiot to make my life hell. This is just what I wanted, God. Thank you so very much for making my life a miserable plane of existence.

Then I hear the boys arguing with the new voice. What are they talking about? I don't understand what they are saying, but they certainly sound mad.

"_Yamete, kudasai! Ijimekko wa yowamushi! Kaere!" _

The kids sound really mad now. I can hear them scuffling with each other and then they all scamper off. I hear footsteps coming toward me, but it's just a solitary footstep now. There's only one Japanese kid to defend myself from.

I rub my nose, frowning at the blood coming from it.

"_Hanaji ga arimasu? Yabe. Oi, omae wa daijoubu desu ka?" _

The voice sounds high-pitched and, oddly enough...not hostile. Concerned, almost. But I won't be fooled.

"Stay away!" I cry. "Don't come any closer!" I stand up and try to regain my bearings. I realize some of the food I got for Nunnally is squashed on the ground. I can still eat it, right? I reach down to pick it up and suddenly another hand appears and picks it up for me and grabs all of the other pieces of fruit on the ground.

"_Gomen nasai. Ano yarous honto ni baka ni shite yo! Ara, kudamono desu ka?" _

I slap the stranger's hand away as I look into the eyes of the condescending adult-only to realize, it's just a kid. A kid who seems to be younger than me. What's more important is that this boy is Japanese. Messy chestnut hair sticks up on his face and it looks like he never bothers to trim his hair, either.

He wears a simple t-shirt and pants, nothing complex. His eyes are blue-as blue as the ocean or the sky itself. This boy is just an ordinary kid. I blink and look around for the adults who could have possibly chased those kids off. But then I realize...it must have been this brat.

But why would a Japanese brat want to fend them off?

"Daijoubu desu ka?" He asks me something while he looks at me in confusion. But when you don't understand a language, their words could be anything from friendly to hostile.

"Go away, stupid Japanese, or like you guys say here, Nihonjin. I hate you Japanese. You think you can pick on my sister and I because we're Britannian. Well, you're wrong."

The boy looks at me in bewilderment and then his eyes shine. "_Honto ni Buritanniajin desu ka? Sugoi desu na! Na, kimi onamae wa nan desu ka?" _

He extends a hand to me. I look at him in confusion. "If you're smart, dumb Japanese, you'll stay away from me. I'm a Britannian prince and they report back to my father. They'll kill you."

"_Koushaku desu ka? Honto ni? Na, na, oshiete, oshiete!" _

The kid is really ticking me off. "Speak English..." I say.

The boy looks at me, then puts his hands on his chin. Then he smirks (or smiles, it's hard to tell) and draws something on the ground with a stick. It's in Japanese characters...but he frowns and starts writing in..._English. _

"Who you guys are? You're the Britannian prince and princess. They talk about you all the time. I saw your fruit...we can buy new ones later."

I frown. "I don't need your pity. Now go away."

"What's your name, koshaku-sama? Kuro-tan? Kuro-rin?"

"What the heck does that mean?" I say.

"Kuro is the color of your hair!" He writes. "So you are Kuro-san."

I frown. This kid is becoming incredibly annoying. "Go away, brat."

"But, Kuro-san...I want to be..."

"Do yourself a favor and _leave_." I growl.

**Shinichi's POV **

* * *

I just met the prince, even if I wasn't aware of it at first. He seemed arrogant and bossy, but he just couldn't understand me. I am more determined than ever to master English so that way I can make friends with him! But why was he so mean?

I overhear my relatives and neighbors whispering about them again. They say the boy's mother was killed and his father, the Emperor, turned away and did nothing. The boy went to protest and then he was thrown away in this country.

They must be lonely. I decide to befriend them. They need companionship. The boy's eyes are sad and lonely. I hate seeing that, somehow. It seems nice for me to have a friend, too. Most people think I am too smart for my own good.

But they are wrong about me and about him. I'll show them all how wrong they are. They will learn to never mistreat him again.

So I ask around, asking my friends Ran and Kaito, asking if they know where the prince lives. Finally, an old woman points me to the Kururugi Shrine. I have heard that the man who lives there is quite mean to children and to adults, too. So naturally I'm nervous.

There is no one at the main house, so I turn to live when I hear a bit of noise from somewhere to my left. I turn and see that there is a light on in a small, wooden storehouse. Is that where they live?

I feel anger rising inside me at that point. How dare they make them live in a place like that. It just isn't right, I tell you. I sneak over there, quickly but quietly and knock on the door.

I hear the noises stop, and then a male voice calls out, "Go away, Suzaku, I'm not in the mood for your crap!"

I flinch. He's angry all of a sudden. Still, I gather up my courage and knock.

The figure opens it and it's Kuro-tan. I am hiding at the moment, so he doesn't see me.

"Stupid idiot, playing pranks like this on us!"

"Wait!" I cry as I come out of my hiding place and his eyes narrow upon seeing me.

"Not you again. Didn't I ask you to leave me alone the last time we met?"

"...I heard people say you lived all alone in this shack. I thought you were lonely, and wanted to come see you, if that's all right with you."

"No."

"Big Brother Lelouch, is there someone at the door?"

'Lelouch, what a strange name,' I think.

"No, there's no one, Nunnally...just a weird Japanese kid. I'm trying to get him to go away."

This must be the princess...but why isn't she looking at me? She's blind, and in a wheelchair. That poor girl.

"Um, konnichiwa, nice to meet you, Nunnally-san," I say.

She giggles. "Nice to meet you. Big Brother, can't we at least let him in?"

I frown. "Yeah, Rurushu-san, let me come in!"

"Hey, you're a stranger! I can't just-"

"Fine, I'll tell you my name, Rurushu-san. My name is...Kudo Shinichi. I'm going to be a detective when I'm older!"

The boy looks at me and then bursts out laughing. "Detective? That's absurd. Well, Kuro whatever you said, leave."

"My name is _Shinichi_, baka, remember it, Kuro-tan." I cry. Why can't this boy be nice?

Suddenly, another voice disturbs us out of our fight.

"Hey, if it isn't the stupid hostages! You dare take up residence in my house! You ought to be more grateful to us!" I frown and realize that's Suzaku Kururugi, the cowardly son of Genbu Kururugi.

He steps in and then his gaze falls on me. "Traitor! Traitor to the Japanese, that's what you are, befriending a Britannian!"

Instantly, I kick my soccer ball and whack him right in the face with it. "Care to say that again, you big baka? If there's something I hate, it's a bully," I taunt.

"You insolent brat! My father will-"

"Face me yourself, without your father. Or are you like Moriarty, a big coward who hides behind criminal deeds?" I say.

The boy runs off like the coward he is. I turn to face Lelouch-san and Nunnally-san, only to see that Lelouch-san is shocked. "So, have I earned your respect now?" I say.

"Definitely," He says and then he smiles at me.

**Lelouch's POV**

* * *

This boy, this human called Shinichi Kudo has started visiting us regularly, bringing us food that he didn't want, stuff that was left over from his lunch, and I don't understand why he's doing this.

"Why are you doing this for us? Don't you care that we're Britannian?"

"Who gives a damn about that? Certainly not me. People seem to fight over it, and fighting is not good, fighting is harmful and wrong. Can't we just respect each other's opinions?" He says softly.

I look at him in disbelief. Eventually, I realize that he is right. He visits us all the time and we play games. Eventually, I realized that I enjoyed having him by my side. But one day, Nunnally was kidnapped.

I was all alone in the rain, when Shinichi showed up.

"Lelouch, what's wrong?" He said.

"Nunnally has been kidnapped," I say between sobs.

"Don't worry...we'll find her together."

And we do. Then we have to leave Shinichi forever.

"Will I ever see you again?" He whispers, tears trailing down his face.

"I don't know..." I whisper.

Years pass and Nunnally and I transfer to Ashford Academy.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" I cry, and then a pair of blue eyes meet my own. I blink.

"L-Lelouch, is that you?" The boy says.

"Shinichi?" I say. The two of us embrace, and I've never felt so happy before in my life. Shinichi's presence almost makes me forget about destroying Britannia. But not quite.

* * *

I will never forget the way he screamed into the phone that day.

"_Euphemia is wounded! Zero did it! Help me out, Lelouch!" _

I emit a weak laugh and hang up on him. "Goodbye, Shinichi."

Suzaku looks at me in disbelief, watching me. Kallen falls onto her knees and cries. But the worst sight of all was seeing Shinichi, the stoic, of all people, start to cry hysterically.

"How could you be...Zero?" He moans.

"So the naive detective realizes his mistakes just now?" I sneer. "How touching."

"You were using me all this time!" He screams.

The last thing I remember seeing before I pass out is that of Shinichi bleeding from his shoulder, but still protecting me.

* * *

I meet him a year later, and he has given up everything for me, me; someone who doesn't deserve to be touched by light like his. He remembers everything and he has Geass, too.

* * *

How has it come to this, I think, as the sword goes through me?

I hear him sobbing behind the mask. "L-Lelouch...don't die on me, please."

"Shinichi...you will now become that which you hate most. You will become Zero. Do you accept this fate, my best friend?"

"Yes...I do," He says through tears. My best friend has become my killer.

**Shinichi's POV**

* * *

"Those flowers are rare," The old woman at the counter says as I place my money on the counter. "Are they for your girlfriend?"

"No...it's for someone I used to know. A best friend...a close friend."

I place the flowers on the grave and shed a few tears. "Lelouch...you were my dearest friend. Goodbye, Lelouch."


End file.
